Plant hire in Kathu, Kimberley and the Northern Cape

Plant hire in Kathu

Kathu is an iron-ore town beside the Sishen mine, one of the largest open-pit mines in the world at some 14 km long, and it serves the Kolomela mine at Postmasburg to the south and the manganese mines around Hotazel, about 60 km to the north. Mine contracts here hire water trucks for haul-road dust, side tippers and ADTs for ore and waste, graders for haul roads, and TLBs for pipelines, drainage and cable trenches. Kathu itself keeps building: housing, shops and workshops that serve the mines.

TLB hire in Kathu

Foundations, sewer and water connections, yard work at workshops, and trenches on mine contracts: R3,900–R5,150 a day with operator, or about R68,000 for a 200-hour month dry. A JCB 3CX or similar digs about 4.4–4.8 m deep. Where the TLB hits a hard layer such as calcrete, the breaker TLB (R5,000–R6,550 a day with operator) saves time. Kathu is about 288 km from Kimberley by road. Transport for a TLB there and back usually comes to R24,760–R29,960, shown as its own line on your quote. On a short job that's more than the hire, so a monthly booking is usually the better buy.

Water trucks and graders in Kathu

Dust control on haul roads and access roads, and water for compacting layerworks, where water is scarce and often carted: a 14,000–18,000 litre water truck is R2,400–R2,800 a day with operator and a 23,000–25,000 litre R4,000–R5,800 a day with operator. A 140-class grader is R4,500–R6,000 a day with operator. See water truck hire and dust suppression.

34 ton side tipper trucks for hire in the Northern Cape

A 34 t side tipper, horse and interlink trailer with a driver, is R75,500–R92,000 a month with operator. The horse alone is R42,000–R63,000 a month with operator and the side tipper trailer alone R25,000–R29,500 a month. The law caps a 7-axle interlink at 56,000 kg in total; the truck and trailers weigh roughly 21 t empty, which leaves about 34 t for the load. Heavy ores such as manganese and iron ore reach that mass in a small volume, so the bins look part-full when the truck is at its legal mass.

As an example, 10 trucks at R75,500–R92,000 each come to R755,000–R920,000 a month for trucks and drivers, before diesel and tolls. For a tender, a mine vendor pack or several trucks, email info@basaltplanthire.co.za with the tonnage per month, loading and tipping points, start date and term; company documents come on request. Full details on 34 ton side tipper hire.

Other Northern Cape towns

Postmasburg

Postmasburg, south of Kathu, is another iron-ore town, home to the Kolomela mine. Mine contracts here hire the same side tippers, water trucks and graders as Kathu. Postmasburg is about 196 km from Kimberley by road. Transport for a TLB there and back usually comes to R16,860–R20,380, shown as its own line on your quote.

Kuruman

Kuruman is famous for the Eye of Kuruman (Gasegonyane in Setswana), a spring that pours out some 20 million litres a day. It is one of the larger towns in the Northern Cape, close to the iron and manganese mines, so the work is housing, workshops, farm dams and pipelines, and farm roads. Kuruman is about 238 km from Kimberley by road. Transport for a TLB there and back usually comes to R20,460–R24,760, shown as its own line on your quote.

Upington

Upington sits on the Orange River, with irrigated vineyards along the river and solar plants on the dry land around it. Jobs here are canal and irrigation work, farm roads, packhouse yards, and solar construction. Upington is about 403 km from Kimberley by road. Transport for a TLB there and back usually comes to R34,660–R41,920, shown as its own line on your quote. For the transport to make sense, plan a long hire or several machines on one trip.

De Aar

De Aar grew up as a railway junction in the Karoo in the 1880s, and solar plants now stand on the open land around it. That brings clearing, roads, cable trenches and crane lifts. De Aar is about 302 km from Kimberley by road. Transport for a TLB there and back usually comes to R25,980–R31,400, shown as its own line on your quote. For crane lifts, a 40 t mobile crane is about R7,600 a day with operator, and its transport is R25,980–R31,400 there and back.

Springbok

Springbok is in Namaqualand in the far north-west, copper country with mines at Okiep, Nababeep and Aggeneys. It is closer to Cape Town than to Kimberley by road, so machines come from Cape Town. Springbok is about 560 km from Cape Town by road. Transport for a TLB there and back usually comes to R48,160–R58,240, shown as its own line on your quote. At that distance transport is often bigger than the hire, so book long or combine machines on one trip.

Heat, sand and distance: working in the Northern Cape

• Heat. Summer days in the Kalahari and along the Orange River are very hot. Start early, keep water on site, and expect slower afternoons.
• Sand and hard layers. Loose sand slows loaded trucks off the road, and hard layers such as calcrete can stop a standard bucket. Tell us what the ground is like so we send the right machine and attachment.
• Water. Water for compaction and dust is often carted in, so price a water truck with any road or earthworks job.
• Distance. Kathu, Kuruman, Postmasburg, Upington and De Aar are all roughly 200 to 400 km from Kimberley by road, so transport is always a separate line and often a big one. Long bookings and several machines on one trip keep it down. Machines that move on a lowbed are covered on lowbed hire and machine transport.
• Mines. The Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 applies on mines, with each mine's own contractor rules.

Before you book, check that the price is in writing with transport both ways, that lifting machines have a load-test certificate not older than 12 months and certified operators, and that breakdown terms are clear: ours are a replacement machine or no charge for downtime. Steps on how it works; certificates on safety and certificates.